


Character Always Counts

by Cosmos (Cat__Astrophe)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Cute Ending, Drama & Romance, Fluff, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Theatre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2021-01-02 05:09:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21156128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat__Astrophe/pseuds/Cosmos
Summary: ✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧“Alright, alright,” Steve rolled his eyes, playfully. “I’m looking right now.”As the blond quickly scanned the unofficial "Broadway-Backwards" casting list that was tacked upon a bulletin board  in the main entrance of Columbia University, his eyes widened as he read the very first name on the sheet of paper.“Well? Did you get in?” Tony asked. “And also, just as importantly, did I get in?”Steve beamed and turned to face the university’s 19-year-old, resident genius and gestured towards the board.“Why don’t you just see for yourself, Tones?”✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧Sometimes it felt like, to Steve at least, that the entire world was practically screaming at him to get his act together and confess his feelings to his best friend. It especially doesn't help his diminishing courage when after auditioning together for a Broadway Backwards production of Hamilton, fate casts them as the lead couple: Alexander and Eliza. But maybe he should actually listen to his cast-mates' and the musical's advice, take a chance, and 'not throw away his shot.'✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧





	Character Always Counts

**Author's Note:**

> ✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧
> 
> It's my birthday (October 23), today! So in honor of today, here's a brand new fanfic!
> 
> This post is based off of musical theatre and something called "Broadway Backwards" which is basically two actors perform a musical number without changing the pronouns in the song, no matter what gender they are! Therefore, two boys could sing a duet meant for a girl and a boy, together! It's honestly really cute and it's super fun to listen to!
> 
> The musical that I based my "Broadway Backwards" off of is Hamilton, a.k.a. my favorite musical in all of the cosmos!
> 
> I wrote this in a rush so I could get it out in time before my birthday ended so I hope it's still satisfactory enough. Thank you for reading!
> 
> ✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧
> 
> Love y'all 3,000!
> 
> ( ˘ ³˘)💗
> 
> 𝒞𝒶𝓉.
> 
> ✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧

“Cut to the chase, already! Did you get in?!”

“Tony, calm down,” Steve laughed as the brunet grabbed his arm in impatience. “The callbacks just got posted; I’m not sure if this is even the official casting list.”

“It is! Now hurry up and check it, you obnoxiously-tall idiot! I can’t see over your shoulder!” Tony ushered him on.

“Alright, alright,” Steve rolled his eyes, playfully. “I’m looking right now.”

As the blond quickly scanned the unofficial "Broadway-Backwards" casting list that was tacked upon a bulletin boardin the main entrance of Columbia University, his eyes widened as he read the very first name on the sheet of paper.

“Well? Did you get in?” Tony asked. “And also, just as importantly, did I get in?”

Steve beamed and turned to face the university’s 19-year-old, resident genius and gestured towards the board.

“Why don’t you just see for yourself, Tones?”

“Do you see how many people are crowded around that thing?” Tony raised his eyebrow at the blond. “This is so dumb to post a piece of paper as the official casting list, why couldn’t they just personally email us? I’m not going in there until all these people start to leave.”

Chuckling, Steve shook his head as he fondly listened to Tony’s complaints until the small mob of people eventually began to disperse.

The brunet pushed past the remaining crowd of bodies all scrounging for a glimpse of the casting list until he could finally get a clear view. As he peaked at the paper, his curious expression froze in an unbelieving stare that Steve thought was inhumanely cute. He counted exactly fourteen total seconds for the brunet to finally come to his senses and when he finally did, Steve expected Tony to be ecstatic about the role that he got until—

“What the absolute-fuck?!” Tony exclaimed as his face flushed an angry shade of pink. “Why the hell was Tiberius Stone casted as Maria Reynolds?! That fucking guy has the attitude and personality of a female dog: A complete bitch!”

Students around the two who were still anxiously scanning the list for their names looked at the brunet in annoyance before backing off as Tony glared right back at them.

“Tony,” Steve sighed, “You’re causing a scene… again.”

“But Ty does NOT deserve to be in this musical because he’s a huge, fucking dick to everyone who works with him in any performance, no matter if they’re cast or crew!” Tony hissed at the blond.

“I know, Tones,” He replied in a curt manner, “It’s fine, there’s nothing you can do about it, anyways. Now will you please just look at the whoever got the lead role?”

“And why is the lead role suddenly so important?” Tony grumbled in frustration. “Tiberius Stone just got cast as Maria—“

“Oh.”

Steve just gave Tony’s blank face a knowing look as the genius blinked a couple of times as if he still hadn’t processed the information in his head yet.

“I got the lead.”

“Yeah, exactly,” Steve grinned, “And _that’s_ why the lead role is suddenly so important.”

“I got the lead.” Tony repeated to himself, under his breath. “Oh fuck, I actually get to play Hamilton.”

“Honestly, I’m not surprised,” the blond told the brunet who obviously wasn’t listening. “Not only are you an actual genius but you’re an amazing actor, too.”

Whether or not Tony had heard his compliment would be forever unknown to Steve as the brunet abruptly started to hyperventilate.

“Tony? Tony!”

“Oh my fucking god, I can’t breath,” Tony clasped onto the blond’s arms and buried his face into his chest.

“God, Tones. Don’t scare me like that, please. Are you okay?”

A muffled, “For fuck’s sake, Steve,” came out of the brunet’s mouth as Steve wrapped his arms around his waist in order to calm him down.

“I can’t believe it,” Tony confessed. “I-I’m fine, I just never thought in a million years—I honestly never even considered that they would ever cast me as the lead, this is—“

“Dammit, Tony.” Steve shut him up with a squeeze. “Just enjoy the moment now, alright?”

“Yeah, okay.” He heard the genius’ breath gradually slow down to a steady pace. “Got it, currently enjoying the moment.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Hey!” Tony made an offended noise and pulled away from Steve to smack his arm but the blond could tell that he was way too exultant to properly care about anything else, right now.

“I’m just so—wait, did you get cast as well? I don’t really want to be in it if you’re not in it—I mean of course you got casted, you’re literally one of the best performing and visual arts students Columbia’s had in like, a century.”

And suddenly, all of Tony’s previous exhilaration vanished as he cocked his head up to peer up at Steve. The blond’s heart began to beat rapidly as he realized that Tony had just pushed away and forgotten the crazily, marvelous luck that had just happened to him to ask Steve if he had gotten in or not. The fact that Tony even cared made his senses perk up as a billion longing thoughts raced through his head.

This beautiful, brilliant, absolute-captivation of a person had just gotten the lead role in a huge campus-round musical and he cared more about whether his best-friend had gotten in than his own personal, and well-deserved, success.

For fuck’s sake.

“Yeah,” Steve almost choked on his words as he swallowed down his feelings. “I did get cast. I—uh, why don’t you just see for yourself?”

The blond swore that the smile he received from Tony could light up a million cities.

“You were cast as Eliza?!”

_Here it comes_, thought Steve as his heart ached with an unimaginable pain. Rejection. Disgust. There goes all of his chances.

“That’s fucking amazing, Steve!” The brunet’s cheery voice cracked the cage his brain was already building around his burning chest.

“We can practice together! Just so you know, I know this musical like the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus,” Tony quipped and Steve could only smirk, fondly.

“Oh, shut up,” He laughed lightly. “I don’t need to know the whatever theorem of calculus, just let me quietly celebrate in peace.”

“You know what, that’s a perfect idea! Let’s go out to celebrate!”

Steve sighed with an undeniable smile on his face.

“If you insist.”

✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧

Ever since Steve could remember, he had always loved the arts and when he met a certain brunet in 6th grade in his Theatre 1 class, he had only grown to cherish and love his time in the arts even more. Originally, Steve was more of a visual arts person but when his Ma persuaded him to finally join theatre because of his love of musical theatre, he had reached a point where he had never been more grateful for is mother in his entire life.

It truthfully seemed like, to Steve, that every waking moment in middle school was spent with Tony, whether it was while eating lunch together out in the school’s courtyard or if it was while practicing for their shitty and dumb middle school plays that almost no one showed up to—almost every single happy memory that Steve could recall involved Tony in some way, shape, or form.

And when Tony persisted in doing everything he conceivably could to ensure that both of them got into the same college together, Steve had finally snapped to his senses and realized that he was chest-deep in love with the genius.

All throughout high school, the blond just assumed that it was just some stupid crush but he knew for absolute certain that his crush was way too big so for some middle school fling. And after his first year of college, when he asked his other friends about whether or not it was normal for someone to feel this way, almost all of them confirmed that he was crazily—and idiotically—in love. Although, in Steve’s opinion, their brutally-honest assurance wasn’t really helpful in his desperate situation.

Steve couldn’t remember a time in his life that he had ever been happier than the moment that he had learned that he and Tony would be attending Columbia University together and he would get another four years with the irresistible brunet.

And if he had to stay in New York City for the rest of his life and never get the chance to travel anywhere else in the world, as long as he could still stay in contact with Tony, he would be perfectly content. Steve wasn’t willing to lose the one good thing in his life so soon even though their graduation day just kept getting closer and closer.

His only option right now was to cherish each second that he currently possessed and not let a moment of it go to waste.

What better way to obsessively pine over your crush than by auditioning to be in the same musical together and getting casted as the musical’s lead couple?

Auditioning for the Columbia University’s unofficial version of Broadway-Backwards Hamilton and actually getting in wasn’t the hard part; the hard part was fighting to keep a straight face as Tony ranted on happily about how excited he was to be sharing the spotlight with Steve. However, the blond didn’t share the same enthusiasm because all throughout the rest of the day he kept having to remind himself that he and the brunet were just friends, despite how much Steve wanted them to be more.

The couple were best friends already and the last thing Steve wanted on Earth was to screw that all up so for four years, he kept his secret crush to himself and watched from the sidelines as Tony dated and looked truly happy with other people. He tried dating other people himself, of course, but the only people who wanted to be with him were girls who suddenly took an interest in him after his sudden growth spurt in the middle of high school that transformed him into a 6’ 2’’ dork in a model’s body. All of hell knows that he’d rather stay single forever than hook up with one of those girls who only chased boys for their looks and their money.

His classmates would chide him for not accepting to go on a date with some of these “gorgeous” girls, but he couldn’t care less. Steve only had eyes for one person and after years of painfully watching from the background of Tony’s romantic affairs, the brunet was finally available after just recently breaking up with Tiberius Stone.

Tiberius Stone. Oh, shit.

Tony’s most recent ex was the same person who was playing the person that Alexander Hamilton cheats on Eliza with: Maria Reynolds.

This would be interesting. And extremely awkward. If the two ex’s didn’t kill each other first before the final performance weeks.

Steve sighed and ultimately decided to shrug it off. Tony’s dealt with worse things and people than Ty and if he needed it, Steve would always come rushing over to defend him if he needed it. Hopefully, the genius knew this before he got himself in any serious trouble or off-stage drama with his ex.

But considering Tony’s reckless personality and his well-known carefree behavior, Steve highly doubted he would even be aware of a fight between the brunet and his ex before it was all over. Tony could be so discreet sometimes. And dangerous.

Especially for a certain blond’s heart.

It was cheesy, but he had to admit it. If only these human emotions didn’t exist, Steve’s life would be immensely easier to cope with. But then he wouldn’t be human nor would he be this happy. Suffering might be the only option to be happy, apparently. How ironic.

Tony would have laughed at that comment.

Fuck’s sake.

Is this what Steve’s mind has become? Will there ever be any minute where his thoughts aren’t consumed by this certain brunet that managed to capture the hearts of and charm the fuck out of everyone around him? Is this what was meant to happen? For his head and heart to become so obsessed that he couldn’t tell that the clock always sped up by 400% when he was around Tony or that the worst days on in the history of planet Earth—where his professors would just constantly pile up useless information for him to study—could instantly be fixed and suddenly become a million times better just with Tony’s simple but genuine smile?

He promised himself that he would never take everything that he had for granted and he never did as he learned to be thankful for every little smile and every small gesture of kindness and friendship that Tony displayed towards Steve. It was unlikely for the brunet to ever get so close with someone and Steve had never been more grateful for being one of the few people in the entire universe who had been gifted with that power. The only cruel catch was when reality slapped his across his cheek and reminded him that he was only Tony’s best friend.

If only Steve had the courage to change that.

As the rehearsal days sped by through the school year, Tony and Steve played their respective parts routinely but never got to actually kissing. The genius joked about it once but it only made Steve uneasy and suddenly, mortifyingly insecure.

What if Tony didn’t want the kiss to happen at all even if it was just part of the show? What if Steve randomly got sick right before the performance days and his understudy took over his role and when the kissing scene finally takes place, Tony falls in love with Steve’s understudy instead of him?

There were about three-thousand things that could go wrong during the actual performances and was there even a possibility that Tony actually liked him back?

Steve scoffed under his breath. What would the genius even see in him other than a huge arts dork in the wrong body but weirdly enough, also the captain of Columbia Lions Football team? He knew for a fact that Tony could care less about sports and that Tony would probably build an invincible, iron suit before he even would consider on going on a date with Steve.

“Cap?” Tony called out to the blond. “You good?”

“I’m fine,” Steve assured him. “What were we doing again?”

Tony didn’t look so convinced but shrugged it off nonetheless.

“We’re about to run through the choreography for ‘Satisfied’ one last time before we break for lunch,” Tony informed him with a huge smile. “Care to join us?”

His feelings and thoughts would have to wait. After the the first few weeks of 9th grade, suddenly everything started to come second only to Tony and the burnet will always continue to be his top priority throughout the rest of Steve’s life. And he wouldn’t change a thing about it.

The blond casually shrugged, “Sure, why not?”

“Just remember to stay in _character_ this time!” Tony giggled as he ran back to the other side of the stage. “We don’t want a repeat of ‘Mr. I-Started-90’s-Dancing-In-The-Middle-Of-Hamilton,’ again!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

But Steve couldn’t help the loving smile from blossoming across his face.

✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧

Four days before the start of the show, dress rehearsal ended in a total disaster.

The two of them were supposed to rehearse the end of the “Satisfied” where it ended with Alexander and Eliza kissing but right at the end of Pepper’s performance of the song, Steve chickened out and ran outside into the auditorium’s parking lot where the sun was beginning to set, to catch his breath.

You fucking moron, he scolded himself as his brain immediately began to replay the images of Tony’s hurt and betrayed face as Steve backed off as their mouths were just about to come into contact. He knew how much the musical really mattered to Tony and by refusing to kiss him, Steve felt like he had just personally ruined the entire production of the show.

Letting his imagination run wild, the blond sat down on the curb of the sidewalk and stared out at the blend of pinks, oranges, and yellows, beginning to fill in the void of the sky as speckles of stars danced and twinkled in the far distance, almost completely-invisible to the naked eye.

A couple of minutes later, Tony was bursting through the main auditorium doors as he despairingly scanned the view for Steve and his face instantly flushed with relief when he spotted the blond sitting alone by himself. Steve contemplated moving away and running off before Tony could approach him but eventually decided against it and shifted over a few inches to let the genius sit down next to him.

“Steve, if you don’t want to kiss, that’s totally fine,” Tony told his best friend with an oddly pained-expression, without facing him, and Steve immediately felt guilty for pushing him away. “We don’t have to do anything that’ll make you uncomfortable.”

“No, I’m perfectly fine with it,” Steve said as he grimaced at his own pathetic voice. “I guess I’m just nervous, I’m sorry.”

Tony sighed and persisted on, “Don’t be. I just want you to be comfortable with what you’re doing.”

“Don’t worry, Tones, I am. I could never be uncomfortable around you.”

The brunet hummed, undoubtedly suspicious of the honesty in Steve’s words, but chose not to pester him about it. He leaned against the blond’s shoulder and Steve watched his eyes droop down in exhaustion, finally letting the tiredness settle in after months of working himself to the point where he was about to collapse during rehearsals.

“If you say so.”

“I wouldn’t lie to you, Tones, would I?”

“I don’t know maybe,” the brunet shrugged as he shifted his body closer to Steve’s until they were basically pressed up against each other.

“You’ve been so out of it lately, I never know if you’re actually being honest or if you’re lying straight to my face when you say that you’re okay.”

Tony’s words struck a chord in Steve’s heart like a brutal knife slicing through a piece of cake.

Why was easier for Steve to lie to about a dozen different people who asked if he was okay than it was to tell Tony that he loved him?

_I love you. That’s why I keep pushing you away and running off_, Steve wanted so badly to say but the words just got caught in the back of his throat and dissipated within the release of an unsteady breath.

“I’m sorry,” Steve apologized in a bare whisper and he could feel Tony barely clutching onto consciousness in order to listen to him. “I guess I’m just nervous. I know how much this musical means to you—it’s your favorite, in fact—and I just don’t want to be the person who screws it all up.”

A sleepy murmur whisked through Tony’s parted lips, “You could never ruin anything, Steve. If anything, you make everything and everyone around you thousands of times better than they were before. I promise you. You’re one of the best fucking people I’ve ever m...”

And unexpectedly, Tony fell asleep on Steve’s shoulder.

As he exhaled the breath he was unconsciously holding, and with love and fondness and his heart throbbing with an indescribable pain, the blond picked up the small brunet and carried him in his arms back into the backstage of the auditorium where he placed him down on a nearby couch and watched over him as he slept. Occasionally, a bewildered cast or crew member would walk by and Steve only had to hush away and dismiss their questions with a single look before they scampered off to continue commissioning the show.

The blond was, at this point, more than just convinced that he didn’t deserve someone like Tony. If even the whole cosmos didn’t deserve such a blessing of a person, to what degree did Steve deserve him?

Absolutely none.

✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧

“And I am not throwing away my shot!”

Steve watched from behind the curtains as the story progressed through the musical and couldn’t help but stare along with the audience as Tony conquered the entire performance, altogether. The brunet truly was made to be out in the open, in the public eye; born to be awed and admired as he was both a natural on camera and on stage. Even though tonight was the university’s very first open performance night, Tony was still nailing every song spot on, and his raw talent unanimously captivated the audience’s attention and every person observing him from backstage.

Everything was blurring by so quickly; each song started and ended like bullets flying through the air, dropping to the ground with a clatter as quickly as they had shot out, and it was no help in calming down Steve’s nerves.

Once “Helpless” started to play, his palms started to sweat and the auditorium suddenly reached a hundred degrees. Ignoring both his heart and his brain pounding within his body, warning him about the catastrophe about to ignite, he forced his voice to start and gradually, the words flowed out of his mouth as smoothly as they did during rehearsal.

Maybe he could actually survive until the end of the song. Until the part when—

“Helpless~”

Steve’s voice faltered a little bit at the very end of the song but he managed to push through it, nonetheless. His breath hitched in his throat as his face drew nearer to Tony’s, and with one fell swoop, no practice, and a complete lack of coordination, Steve kissed the brunet.

The butterflies that had been previously caged in his stomach, suddenly escaped from their captivity, exploded outwards with a tide of newfound emotion, and surged outwards in one massive wave; the flutter of their wings tickling his stomach and lungs.

Perhaps it was just Steve’s imagination, and because of his closed eyes he wasn’t able to see Tony’s face, but he swore he could feel Tony reciprocate the kiss as hard as Steve was initiating it. The genius’ lips pressed into his mouth with a vigor that Steve could only dream of and the sweet taste of sugary coffee infiltrated his mouth and his senses. The fake bouquet of flowers that he was holding for the song, dropped to the ground, unnoticed by the couple as Steve snaked his arms around Tony’s waist and the brunet retaliated by clasping onto the blond’s neck, pushing their bodies closer together than ever before.

Tony must be really invested in this musical, otherwise he wouldn’t be kissing him so hard right now. The thought of the brunet’s dedication to the believability of the performance was both amusing and heartbreaking at the same time.

And although the moment was passing quicker than the two of them were imagining, Steve fought his body's urge to become nauseous as he began to just grasp the realization that he had actually _kissed_ Tony, his best friend for who _knows_ how long it's been.

As long as he had known the genius, Steve had never been so close to him without more than just friendly intentions. Sure, they’ve cuddled and slept on each other during sleepovers and movie nights, but no matter how many beguiling memories Steve is able to accumulate of their friendship over the years that he’s known Tony, this feeling of desperateness had never existed until how.

Or maybe… this feeling had always been there and Steve had just been burying it away in the back of his consciousness, trying to ignore it for years and more years to come until it finally grasped its chance to release itself.

No matter what his co-actors were probably thinking about them right now, no matter how loud the audience was cheering and clapping, no matter how many snickers the two could hear coming from the back of the stage, no matter how many phone’s cameras clicked and snapped pictures of the two, Steve was determined to hang onto this one miracle that happened right in this moment for as long as possible.

And then the music stopped— finally, after the recommended time for Alexander and Eliza’s kiss ended way long ago, the pair eventually, and for Steve, reluctantly pulled apart.

Steve slowly cracked opened his eyelids, expecting a disgusted expression to be on Tony’s face—only for the first thing that his vision was greeted by to be the brunet’s glowing, beautiful face, graced with a smile that could compete with all the stars in the universe. The sound of thundering applause and whoops that echoed throughout the theater as the audience cheered for the magical kiss that had just taken place between the story's main couple only added to the mystical and sensational feeling that swarmed the blond's gut as he grabbed Tony's hand and led him off stage.

A short break started for the two as “Satisfied” began to play on stage and Pepper Potts began to belt out in her powerful and entrancing voice.

“That was… incredible, Steve.” Tony’s eyes brightened even more as he looked at Steve’s anxious and confused face. “Honest.”

The blond bit his bottom lip.

“I knew you could do it,” The brunet breathed. “And you did it perfectly, too!”

“Thanks, Tones,” Steve let out a breath that he didn’t realize he was holding. “You’re absolutely amazing on stage—actually, you should probably get back out there, shouldn’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess I should, shouldn’t I?” Tony’s smile dropped a little but didn’t disappear completely. “I’ll see you after the show, okay Steve?”

“Of course.”

✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧

“Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?”

One last kiss sealed the end of the musical, the end of the entire week of routinely performances, exhausting dress rehearsals, and one of the longest and most memorable, compelling, and electrifying adventures of Steve’s lifetime.

Promptly after the final note of “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story,” the audience erupted in applause in order to shower the performers in their absolute awe of the performance.

As Tony and Steve exited the stage after a final bow with the entire cast and crew, unknowingly hand in hand, their feet automatically led them to the door opening to the parking lot at the back of the auditorium. Sitting down on the steps and leaning against the railing as they did almost at the end of almost every rehearsal, Steve and Tony chose to just enjoy the quiet accomplishment of their success of the entire week within each other’s comforting company. And their well-deserved silence lasted pretty long until—

“Hey, Tones!” A voice pierced through the thoughts running at a million miles an hour in Steve’s head.

“Can I talk to you real quick, baby?”

Tiberius Stone. Hell’s finest, and worst, spawn. The perfect person to interrupt his chance to be alone with Tony.

Tony’s face scrunched up in annoyance and quickly casting a glance in Steve’s direction, he sighed reluctantly and stood up.

“First of all, Tiberius,” Tony hissed through his gritted teeth. “Don’t call me ‘_baby_,’ because I am never, ever, in all hell, _ever_, going to be in a relationship with you.”

“Woah,” Tiberius sneered mischievously at Tony’s small but defensive form. “Chill, Tones. I just wanted to congratulate you on your _breathtaking_ performance all throughout this week. I also thought that, maybe, just maybe, we could talk, preferably alone, for a few minutes?”

The genius inhaled sharply before wiping off all remaining bits of politeness from his face.

“No.” Tony’s response was sharp and full of anger. “Two days ago when you tried to “speak to me alone,” you tried to smash your lips onto my face and then proceeded to grab and grope my ass! You should feel lucky that I haven’t reported this to anyone yet because if I had, by now you would’ve already been kicked out of the show!”

Tiberius took a wary step back.

“Now, don’t you talk to me like that, Tones,” He snapped at the brunet. “We all know here that all of your success in theatre really is because of me. After all, I’m the one who first introduced you to theatre and brought you to your first play! And this is how you repay me, years later?! By yelling shit in my face?!”

His pupils swiveled around as he eyed the two of them.

“And don’t think that I’m scared of you or your little ‘football captain, boyfriend bodyguard,’ Tony!” Tiberius turned to Steve and snarled. “Just because you’re the football captain of Columbia doesn’t mean that I’m sc—“

A satisfying crunch echoed throughout the soundless night and Tiberius Stone immediately stumbled back with his hands flying up to cover up his now-bloody nose. Steve reeled back slightly but refused to back down as he glowered at Tiberius’ weakened and nearly-defeated figure.

“Stay away from Tony.” Steve warned him, cold and calmly. “Step even ten fucking feet near him and every bone in your body will be reduced to ashes and dust before you can even process it and you’ll wake up in a full-body cast in the fucking hospital. Understood?”

Before he could even muster up the courage to fire back, Tiberius scrambled up and fled back into the auditorium, no doubt to complain to some of his bitch-ass friends about what just happened. Whatever, Steve couldn’t care less right now. All he cared about was keeping Tony safe.

“Steve,” Tony’s words were shaky and uneven. “Yo-You didn’t have to do that for me.”

He breathed in deeply and looked up at the blond, smiling softly.

“But I’m glad that you did because it helps me remember that you’ll always be with me through every shitty thing that life throws at me… and us.”

At that point, Steve couldn’t hold back anymore as his heart caved in to his natural instinct as he stepped forward, scooped up Tony in his arms—and kissed him. Their lips connected and their bodies fit together perfectly, like the pieces of a puzzle snapping together to form a bigger picture. And that picture was just being constructed and fabricated out of the recent rediscovery of this feeling that Steve just sometimes forgot was always there and when it does finally decide to show itself—it was like floating on a cloud and getting high off of the sunshine up in the sky.

Steve almost wanted to pull away, but when he eventually forced to due to the increasing lack of air in his lungs, he instantly focused his sight on Tony’s flushed face and a small grin began to etch its way onto his face when he saw the starstruck sparkles that danced through the brunet’s eyes as he looked back up at Steve.

How did he never notice this look in Tony’s eyes before?

They were together almost 24/7, yet neither of them had gathered enough reason to act upon their own feelings, and when one of them finally did, the resulting emotion was almost too unbearable to tolerate, but they did, because they, with all of their being, wanted to.

Or did both of them want to?

Was this not all just Steve’s imagination tricking him into seeing what he’s been dreaming and always wishing to see since high school?

Fuck’s sake. What has he done?

“I-I’m so sorry, Tony,” He almost collapsed in his own sheer culpability as his voice rasped out a guilty apology and his vision began to cloud up with tears. “I didn’t mean to do that—I… I have to go…”

He rushed off into the night in search of his pickup truck.

“Wait, Steve!”

Ignoring Tony’s pleas to come back, Steve jammed his key into the ignition and sped away into the haunting silence of the night.

How four hours of pure bliss with his favorite person in the entire cosmos could suddenly turn into his worst nightmare becoming reality was honestly purely comedic and almost ironic in a sense.

On stage he was able to live the life of his dreams, with Tony captured in his arms, holding onto Steve like his life depended on it, but when he stepped out of the spotlight—that’s when every little dream, scenario, and act he was able to dedicate time towards and fixate himself on, suddenly crumples to the ground and shatters his hopes in about a hundred-million pieces. Out in front of the audience, the act and the experience was all he ever wanted in life—only for it to be revealed to his heart and head as fake, once he left the stage. Everything in his life was just turning to absolute shit, at this point.

He couldn’t possible fuck it up anymore than he already had if he went to go apologize to Tony tomorrow, right?

Only fate could tell him. And that answer would have to wait until tomorrow.

✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧

“Tony?”

Steve examined Tony’s grief-stricken face with fear. “What’s wrong?”

“Steve,” Tony shakily inhaled a gulp of air as he halted to a stop a foot in from to Steve, unlike the distance that they would normally speak to each other at.

The brunet seemed so far away…

Ouch.

“I got approached by and offered a deal with a talent scout last night after you… left. He told me that he wanted to take me to Broadway for a real job. A real acting gig.”

“That’s… amazing, Tones,” Steve said as his heart began to tug in two opposite directions, attempting to choose whether to be happy for the brunet or to be sad that there would be bad news soon to come: Tony could be leaving Steve, forever.

For now, he would go with happy, despite the rising dread currently developing and bubbling up in the pit of his stomach.

“Steve, can’t you see it? This… This could be the _real_ start of my career. The once that I’ve wanted, the one that I’ve always dreamed of even though my dad clearly disapproved of it and constantly reminded me all throughout my life that it was a bad choice.”

“And… why is that a bad thing? You’re getting the success that you finally deserve, Tony!”

“You dumbass,” Tony laughed softheartedly. “The truth is: I’m beginning to think that my dad was actually sort of right…”

“What, why?”

“Because this isn’t the life that I’ve always dreamed of—and I can’t believe that I haven’t realized this until just now…”

Steve took a brave, small step closer to the genius, “And why isn’t it?”

“Leaving for Broadway isn’t what I’ve been dreaming of my life being because in my dreams… you were always there with me,” Tony confessed. “This isn’t my dream life because _you_ were always my dream life and frankly, Broadway doesn’t include you, and if Broadway doesn’t include you, then I don’t ever want to leave.”

Steve’s heartbeat echoed and thumped against his eardrums but that didn’t stop him as he rushed forward, finally feeling the missing warmth of Tony’s body within his grasp and he learned down to catch the brunet’s surprised gasp in-between his lips.

“You’re an idiot, you know that right?” Steve chuckled as he peppered kisses all over Tony’s forehead and nose. “You get the chance to go out there and make a huge name for yourself, become rich and famous, and you would give it all up, for me?!”

“Every time. Even if I was offered a better offer than that for a million more times. I still would given it all up, _every_ _single_ time. For you.”

The blond shook his head in disbelief and gaped down at the brunet with nothing but love seeping into the corners of his eyes.

“Just shut up and kiss me.”

So he did, and it felt like it was composed of the most perfect combination of magic, miracles, and fireworks. Heaven only knew what Tony tasted like after just admitting their feelings for someone who had the exact same feelings towards him, and Steve swore on his life that he was literally tasting heaven right now.

“Hey!” Rhodey just had to abruptly appear at this time. “Sorry for interrupting whatever’s going on here, but Steve, Director Fury was looking for you last night.”

“What for?”

“Well, you know how Tony got offered a real acting job at Broadway last night? But here’s the catch: You were too!”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, that’s right! Tony got told last night but when the talent scout went to go tell you the good news, you had disappeared and no one knew where you had gone so I told the the talent guy that I would tell you about this opportunity first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Wait, really?” Tony seemed unconvinced. “Does that mean that we get to work together?”

“Absolutely,” Rhodey smiled at the couple and pretended not to notice their fingers beginning to lace within each other’s. “All sound good?”

As if by magic, everything had suddenly just clicked right into place, all within the span of a day, all within the words of a single message from a good friend.

“Yes,” Tony breathed and he scooted closer to Steve. “Hell yeah.”

“Cool. Steve?” Rhodey looked at him in question with an expecting smile.

“Yeah, yeah…” Steve grinned like a fool. “Definitely. I would love to keep working with you, Anthony Edward Stark.”

Tony smirked with the same loving spark in his eyes that Steve recognized in his own eyes whenever he looked at his reflection while he was around the brunet.

“And the same goes to you, Steven Grant Rogers. Just remember, to stay in _character_.”

“Of course, I will, Tony. As long as you remember to stay in yours.”

“Oh, yeah? And what’s that character, Steve, if I may ask?”

The blond tilted his head down to give the cute, amazing, beautiful brunet next to him an affectionate kiss.

“The one right by my side.”

✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧

**Author's Note:**

> ✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧
> 
> Posted on: October 23, 2019 at 11:41 PM - Central Daylight Time.
> 
> ✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧
> 
> ( ˘ ³˘)💗
> 
> 𝒞𝒶𝓉__𝒜𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓅𝒽𝑒
> 
> ✧ ─────── ♡ ─────── ✧


End file.
